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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22828309">Courtship Rituals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fooshi/pseuds/Fooshi'>Fooshi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Courtship, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Royalty</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:09:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22828309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fooshi/pseuds/Fooshi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Royalty in Faerghus has a specific process of official courtship that one must go through before they can wed the king. This is something that Dedue is about to very suddenly learn.</p><p>AKA Dimitri confesses his undying love to Dedue for two thousand words straight.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Dedue Molinaro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>106</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Courtship Rituals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they moved back into the palace at Fhirdiad after the war, Dedue took the room closest to the king’s chambers. This is why it struck him as odd when one morning a knight of the kingdom knocked on the door, proclaiming that he had a message from the king. Why would Dimitri send a messenger when he could just as easily walk over to speak with Dedue himself? Was something wrong? Had Dimitri fallen ill?</p><p>Dedue rushed to answer the door and was greeted with a bouquet of flowers so large and luscious that they all but entirely obfuscated the knight holding them.</p><p>“You, uh,” Dedue began haltingly, transfixed by the flowers in front of him. “You said you had a message from the king?”</p><p>“Yes,” the knight responded. “It’s the flowers. Please take them. There’s a note inside.”</p><p>Dumbstruck, Dedue had no choice but to heft the bouquet out of the knight’s grasp. The thing really was gigantic. The blooms filled Dedue’s arms and he was forced to cradle them the way he would a child. </p><p>“Does he… Does he want me to re-pot them?”</p><p>The knight paused, then huffed out a little laugh. “No, I believe they are meant to be a present.”</p><p>The knight departed, leaving Dedue alone to admire his gift. Or was it his message? Dedue examined the types of flowers, wondering if their meaning in Fódlan’s flower language was part of some secret code Dedue was to decipher. But no, there wasn’t any discernible meaning to the flowers that had been chosen. There were roses for pure love, asters for tenderness, camellias for longing… No underlying political messages there. Furthermore, the bouquet seemed to have been picked to contain some of Dedue’s personal favorites. Although, flowers from Duscur were conspicuously absent. Dimitri would have known better than to pick an endangered species.</p><p>Dedue pressed his face into the soft petals and inhaled their heady aroma. Aside from the flowers of his homeland, the ones with that smelled lovely were always the ones he liked best. Did Dimitri know as much? Had he noticed?</p><p>Dedue shook such frivolous thoughts from his head and placed the bouquet down on the table. He needed to find the note Dimitri had left him in the flowers.</p><p>It wasn’t hard to find. It was in a gleaming envelope embossed in gold, sealed shut with the official crest of Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. Dedue carefully pulled open the seal and read.</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>My Dearest Dedue,</p>
  <p>Now that the war has ended, I feel that I am finally free to let my affection for you be known. I would like to begin the proper courtship proceedings traditional to Faerghus royalty which, if both parties are amenable, will end in marriage. If this prospect sparks even the dimmest flame of joy in your heart, I beg that you accept this bouquet as a small token of my most heartfelt and ardent feelings. If you find my tender sentiments toward you unacceptable, please but say the word and I will bother you with them no longer.</p>
  <p>Forever yours in humility and love,</p>
  <p>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd</p>
</blockquote><p>By the time Dedue finished reading the letter he found himself gripping the edge of the table to steady himself. He read the letter once more, then again after that. It was addressed to him, but was he truly the intended recipient? The letter was scrawled in Dimitri’s handwriting, Dedue would recognize it everywhere, but he wrote of affection and tender sentiments and <em> humility </em>. Dimitri had always been a humble man, that was one of the many qualities that Dedue admired in him. It’s part of what made him a great king. But humility toward Dedue? There was no need for it. There never had been.</p><p>And then there was the matter of other words used. Words like “marriage” and “love.” Dedue had never intended to marry. Whenever he envisioned his future, it was by Dimitri’s side, not hand in hand with some unknown wife. As for Dimitri’s marriage, the thought of it had always brought Dedue a peculiar pain to ruminate on, so he had always put it out of his thoughts. The idea of marrying Dimitri himself had never even crossed Dedue’s mind as a possibility, not even in the moments between sleep and wakefulness when he allowed himself to think of the warmth of Dimitri’s skin and vague images of kisses and caresses filled his imagination. Dedue’s face heated at the memory of such fantasies. He tried not to dwell on them, but he clearly held certain tender sentiments of his own.</p><p>He needed answers, some sort of clarification of Dimitri’s intent in sending such a gift. Dedue left the bouquet and the letter behind and went to knock on the door of the king’s chambers.</p><p>“You may enter.”</p><p>Dedue found Dimitri sitting at his desk by the window, sipping a most likely caffeinated cup of tea and looking over some paperwork. He was dressed down in his shirtsleeves and the sunbeams streaming in from outside cast his yellow hair in a golden hue. Even in these quiet, casual moments, Dimitri still looked regal. He was every inch a king.</p><p>Dimitri looked up from his work and nearly spilled his tea all over his lap.</p><p>“Dedue!”</p><p>Dedue took an automatic step forward to help Dimitri clean up the drops of tea that were already staining his nice linen shirt. But Dimitri was already standing, brushing himself off, straightening his clothing, brushing his bangs out of his face, all despite the fact that he already looked breathtakingly handsome in the morning light. He looked Dedue in the face, then a slight tinge of red painted his cheeks and he broke eye contact. Dedue could not remember the last time he had seen him so flustered.</p><p>“My apologies for not being ready for you.” Dimitri made a curt bow, which Dedue was taken aback by. A king had no reason to bow to his vassal. “I did not expect you so early.”</p><p>“You have no need to prepare yourself for my company, Your- Dimitri,” Dedue corrected himself. “It is only me.”</p><p>Dimitri smiled at the small pleasure of hearing his name from Dedue’s lips. “I suppose you’re right. Still, circumstances have changed somewhat, have they not?”</p><p>“Have they?”</p><p>A look of abject concern crossed Dimitri’s face, furrowing his brow. “Did you not receive my message this morning?”</p><p>“I did.”</p><p>“Good,” Dimitri said, though he only looked slightly less agitated than he did a moment ago. “Did you like the flowers?”</p><p>“I did.”</p><p>Dimitri breathed a small sigh of relief and repeated, “Good.”</p><p>“But they confused me.”</p><p>Dimitri himself looked confused by this news. “They did? I thought my intentions were quite clear. Did you not find my note?”</p><p>“I found it. That was the most confusing part,” Dedue said. “I read it three times and am still struggling to understand its meaning. You spoke of courtship and marriage, but surely you could not mean… This is the first time I have ever heard you mention the topic.”</p><p>“Well,” Dimitri began. He took a deep breath, as though he were about to give a prepared speech. “I am currently of the age where it is typical for a king to start searching for his partner in life. But for me, no search is needed. I have always known that you are the only one I want at my side.”</p><p>“A partnership?” Dedue tried his best to parse this. “Is that what you’re suggesting? Some sort of marriage for the public eye, to give me a promotion in status and relieve yourself of the pressures of finding a spouse? If that is the case, then I must object. Surely there are better matches for you, ones that would not lower your reputation by associating yourself so closely with the Tragedy of Duscur.”</p><p>“Dedue,” Dimitri’s expression was stern. “We’ve discussed this on many occasions. I have vowed to devote myself to rebuilding Duscur. Even if I were not to marry you, even if some cruel twist of fate were to separate us, my reign would still be irrevocably tied to Duscur no matter what. As far as I am concerned, my reputation could only improve by having a kind, handsome, upstanding man like you as my husband. So please, do not take such things into account when considering my proposal.”</p><p>Dimitri suddenly seemed to realize the word he’d just used and his eyes went wide. “When I said proposal, I didn’t mean- I wasn’t referring to- An actual proposal would come later, after we have courted for a specified length of time. There is a certain order to these things and I do not mean to get ahead of myself or jump to conclusions about your wishes on the matter.”</p><p>Dedue’s head was still spinning from hearing Dimitri call him handsome. The king had called him kind and upstanding many times before, but never handsome.</p><p>In Dedue’s stunned silence, Dimitri cleared his throat and soldiered on. “As for the question of whether or not this marriage would simply be one of convenience, contrived for the public eye alone, the answer is a resounding no. Of course not. That possibility would imply that I was anything less than achingly in love with you.”</p><p>Dedue could barely process what he was hearing. “But, in all the years we’ve known each other, you’ve never…”</p><p>“I’ve never made any outward declarations of my love for you, that much is true,” Dimitri admitted. “I never found an appropriate time before. There was the pain of our shared childhoods to contend with, and the shadow of death and revenge that hung over me even in our academy days. Then the war began and we were separated for all those years. For a long time I believed myself nothing but a burden to you and everyone else I cared for. I was a monster that no one could possibly want. It wasn’t until recently that I even felt I deserved the happiness of love. Even now, I am still unsure I do.”</p><p>Dimitri spoke of their shared childhood, of their academy days. Had he really felt this way for so long?</p><p>“Still,” Dimitri continued. “Can you honestly say that you never had the faintest inkling of my feelings towards you? Even after all our promises to never leave each other’s side? Even after hearing my countless professions of how much I cherish you? Did you never catch any of my stolen glances or think-”</p><p>Dedue crossed the space between them in three long strides and swept Dimitri into a crushing kiss. Dimitri gasped into Dedue’s mouth and stumbled backward in surprise. He grabbed Dedue’s arms to keep himself upright and Dedue never wanted his hands to leave him again. Before he knew it Dimitri was kissing him back, open mouthed and painfully eager. Dimitri’s tongue was licking into him. Dimitri’s lips were meeting his again and again. Dimitri’s mouth was spreading into a smile even as Dedue continued to kiss him and kiss him. Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri.</p><p>When they eventually did part, Dimitri was still smiling a face-splitting grin. He was still gripping Dedue’s biceps. Dedue smiled, too. Dedue felt as if he could lift mountains, as if he could swallow the ocean, as if he could kiss Dimitri for hours and never break for air.</p><p>Suddenly, the dreamy expression on Dimitri’s face snapped into one panicked realization.</p><p>“Oh no!” Dimitri exclaimed. “I am so sorry. This is all happening in the wrong order. I was not supposed to kiss you yet. I had a whole plan in place, with picnics and horseback rides and tours of the city and nights at the opera!”</p><p>Dedue raised an eyebrow. “You know, back in Duscur we held the unique belief that two people who wished to kiss each other should do so whenever it pleased them.”</p><p>Dimitri dropped his forehead on to Dedue’s shoulder with a light chuckle. “Perhaps you have the right idea.”</p><p>Dedue caught Dimitri under the chin, gently tipped his face up, and kissed him again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! If you have any prompts for Dimidue fics, please leave them in the comments. I'm trying to write more about these two lovebirds.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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